NSL spends K84m on repairs last year

 By GYNNIE KERO

NAMBAWAN Super Ltd (NSL) spent about K84 million on repair and maintenance of its properties last year, chief executive officer Garry Tunstall says.

He said NSL was going through a period of repairing “a lot of neglect in the past”.

“Certain properties need repair and maintenance after number of years so we have to spend a lot of funds to get them 

up to a suitable standard both in terms of health and safety. So last year we have spent some K84 million on doing that, we are still continuing  to do that this year,” Tunstall said,

NSL’s properties portfolio comprises commercial, residential, industrial and land investments. 

According to its website, the portfolio was valued at K395.7 million at the end of 2013.

This figure represented 9.4 per cent of the total investment portfolio, below the target allocation due to the poor outlook for property value in PNG, particularly Port Moresby.  

Tunstall said NSL planned to sell some of its assets that were not producing returns.

He noted telecommunication breakdown as a growing concern for the superfund.

“Some of the difficulties we face are outside elements like telecommunication. We found that we pay a lot of money but sometimes we don’t get the service that we really need. It’s quite frustrating when we pay for a significant bandwidth of internet,” Tunstall said.

He added that despite operational and strategic challenges, NSL was focused on all serving its members and growing wealth.

“In the last year and a half, there have been a number of challenges but we have sufficient strategic decisions for moving the business forward, operationally, we have changed technology quite substantially,” he said.

“We are working on getting online services through getting aps (applications) for mobile phones and tablets and that should come through in the next 3-4 months so members will be able to access their balances cheaply and efficiently.”